Published by the D.J.I. (Dutch Judicial Institutions Services) in May 2004 to be given out at their first "Open House Day" for the general public. The illustrations are by an English artist, Henri Obasi.

I was caught by the interesting drawings in this deck. The artist had a sense of humour and that makes a whole Justice system look like it has a sense of humour, but it's all an illusion. th4mo helped me get some of the captions translated (BIG thank you!) and it turns out to be very typical institution speak. The translations are included below in white text.

Vrouw(Woman)/Queen of spades :The wife of a detainee is not to be envied. She is left with eventual debts, shame and the responsibility for children etc. Thus, in a way, the one who is left behind experiences a kind of punishment as well.

Four of spades: A cell has 4 walls. A prisoner convoy vehicle has 4 wheels. With these means, the transport and support system of the DJI moves around about 800-900 suspects, foreigners and detainees daily, in order to facilitate our judicial processes.

Boer(Farmer)/Jack of hearts:The farmer won’t eat what he doesn’t know. This rule does not go up in our judicial institutions. There one eats whatever one is served. Only for medical or religious reasons will a meal substitution be made.

Joker:Some people will not have to go to prison, but can be allowed to serve their punishment, of maximum 90 days, under house arrest. In this form of electronic detention, an ankle device registers whether they follow the rules.

Ace of clubs:Youth has the future. But also gets into trouble sometimes. In our judicial youth institutions we firmly handle our youth when necessary, but above all we help them to give a positive turn to their lives.

Heer(Gentleman)/King of diamonds:At the head of each institution there is a director. The “boss” not only has talents for management. Most of the time the director knows all the inmates and he is the one who decides, for e.g., whether someone will be placed in an isolation cell.

Isn't montecarlojoe making this place look good. I love how these attachments went in.

Very interesting cards. Reminds me of the Missing Persons deck somewhat. They hand that out to inmates and all the cards have pictures and information about cold cases and homicides, as well as hotline number. It's proven pretty effective in solving those murders, kidnappings, etc.

th4mo wrote:Nice to see the rest of the deck! Too bad the nice art is blocked so much by all the text...

And yes, Joe is doing a mighty fine job! Thanks Joe!

Yeah, the text does get in the way. I love the colours in this deck. So cheerful, with such a serious subject.

I'm tempted to redo all the other images I have in here so they all have the nice setup Joe made.

Eoghann wrote:Very interesting cards. Reminds me of the Missing Persons deck somewhat. They hand that out to inmates and all the cards have pictures and information about cold cases and homicides, as well as hotline number. It's proven pretty effective in solving those murders, kidnappings, etc.

It's such a sad deck.

That is a sad one. I find the stars behind bars deck really sad too, if only because of the Michael Jackson joker. Such a talented guy to become the joker in a deck like that. He was so messed up by his ambitious abusive father and didn't have the strength of character to turn it around.

The beautiful pattern of the deck shown here is presently found in most Dutch advertising decks and has been produced by Carta Mundi since 1971 for the Dutch market only. This deck is itself an advertising deck for the Rabobank cooperative of 500 autonomous local banks. I have not shown the back which is simply text, in Dutch, about the Rabobank Group (forgot to scan it - no loss).

These courts show the present form of the Dutch pattern which has scenic aces, usually of the Netherlands. This is the only standard pattern that is always accompanied by scenic aces, unless special (advertising) aces are commissioned.

"Imagine playing cards as a valuable source of iconographic information. Landscapes that no longer exist, battles that form part of our history, or the catalog of works of graphic artists."-From the "Everything About Cards" section of the Copag web site.

Scenic Aces were originally made to decorate the large blank area of aces. A few manufacturers, mostly in Germany and Belgium, began to include views of cities, or allegorical scenes, primarily from the mid-1800s onwards. These scenes portrayed their own country as well as foreign locations.

Whether the image was used for a familiar landmark, or the memory or imagining of a distant land, these aces were in fact precursors to modern postcards. The images were often based on the engravings of travelers, and later on old photographic postcards.

Much of this information came from the "Everything About Cards" section of the Copag company web site, as well as from an excellent article, "Dutch Scenic Aces", by Joop muller on the DXPO web site.